Twist of Fate: Comings and Goings
by whoa nellie
Summary: An away team mission to a seeminglyuninhabited planet raises interesting issues for Chakotay and his wife as well as Harry and Seven.


Title: Twist of Fate: Comings and Goings

Author: Whoa Nellie Voyager

Rating: R

Codes: C/f, K/7

Synopsis: An away team mission to a seemingly-uninhabited planet raises interesting issues for Chakotay and his wife as well as Harry and Seven.

Author's Notes: Feel free to archive to any pertinent site. This story does stand on its own, not necessary to have read the previous stories except for more detailed background information on Ceshlyta and how she got there.

Previous stories from the Twist of Fate storyline (in order): Blessings of the Sky Spirits, Wyrd, What Comes Naturally, Fresh Perspective, Culinary Delights, Chaos Theory, Unforeseen Circumstance, A Matter of Definition, Love and Copulation and Million Kilometer High Club.

Background: Ceshlyta is Chakotay's wife and soulmate. She is descended from the Inheritors through a different tribe and was joined with Chakotay in a wedding at the Temple of the Sky Spirits before they put her on Voyager. She was a Professor of Botany on Earth when the Sky Spirits joined their souls, intertwined their life paths and put her on Voyager. Her nickname, used by most of the other crew members, is Sassy.

Acknowledgements: Paramount owns all the marbles, we just have a lot more fun playing with them.

Feedback is always appreciated, posted or e-mail.

This is an edited version re-uploaded to correct some technical mistakes in the original story. If you are 18 or older and interested in the unedited version of the story, they can be found at Whoa Nellie's Sci-Fi Romance Website linked from the author page here.

COMINGS AND GOINGS

Ceshlyta tossed her husband an apple before selecting a peach for herself. Now that the garden was in full production, fresh fruit was in abundant supply. It was actually much easier to get away for lunch with Chakotay on a routine basis since the garden was finished, basic maintenance was not really time-consuming. She followed him to a small table near the center of the room. That was mostly for her benefit she knew; even after the many months that she'd been aboard Voyager, the view from the windows was still unsettling. "So, when's the briefing?"

Chakotay froze, his fork in mid-air. "What briefing?"

"The mission briefing for the expedition to that Class M planet tomorrow," Sassy said. Her first away mission--not counting that horrible experience on Techora--so she was getting excited.

"This afternoon," he answered her initial question. "Why?"

"So I know what time to be there."

"You're not going," he stated flatly.

Sassy laid her fork on the table. "Because?" she queried in a deceptively soft voice.

"It's an uninhabited, unexplored planet," Chakotay replied as if that statement was self-explanatory.

"Kathryn said that it was a jungle environment and that this would be your first real opportunity to analyze the botanical aspects of a planet."

"Kathryn," he mimicked her use of Janeway's name, "is not in command of the away team. I am and I'm not taking you down there."

"Why not? It's not like you have dozens of qualified botanists to choose from," she pointed out. She was torn--on the one hand, he was being protective and that was so sweet and endearing; but on the other hand, she was an intelligent woman whose knowledge could be useful and he didn't respect that knowledge enough to trust her in her own element. Finally, a chance to do more than take up space and resources aboard Voyager and her husband was too concerned about her well-being to utilize her expertise. Granted, the garden was already producing more than a third of Voyager's food resources and had reduced energy requirements for the oxygen filtration system by ten percent. Chakotay would tell her that the garden was a significant contribution to the ship, but this was a real opportunity to contribute to their acquisition of knowledge on unexplored regions of space.

"We've gotten along just fine without a botanist on away teams this far."

The man was being impossible. "But you don't have to get along without one anymore," she pointed out.

"No," Chakotay said, his command tone brooking no further discussion.

"Why not?" Sassy reiterated, ignoring his authoritative tone. "As enjoyable as that incident with the freaky oysters was, are you seriously telling me that you would prefer taking Neelix rather than me?"

"That's different; Neelix is a m--"

"I know you weren't about to say that gender has anything to do with your feelings," she warned him. "Would you prefer that I was a man?"

"No," he assured her. "But--"

"But what?" she demanded, her voice louder than she'd intended.

Chakotay leaned forward and dropped his voice to a bare whisper. "Neelix can fire a phaser and pilot a shuttle; but yes, he's also a man and not my wife."

"You asshole!" Sassy stood, yelling. "How dare you throw my beliefs back in my face like that. As for my being a woman--if it weren't for women, men would still be hanging from trees and picking fleas off their ass."

Tom and B'Elanna were getting their lunches when Sassy's voice rose over the muted din of conversation. They watched the scene with amused interest along with everyone else right up to where Sassy stormed out. Sauntering over to the table where Chakotay sat, Tom casually commented, "My, that was vivid, wasn't it, Chakotay?"

"Shut up, Tom," Chakotay growled. Ignoring all of the looks and whispers, he stalked out. He started toward their quarters, assuming that she'd be there and they could finish this discussion. When the turbolift doors closed, he suddenly changed his mind. There was another discussion he needed to have first. "Bridge."

Even Tuvok seemed mildly surprised at his appearance on the bridge. His lunch break wasn't even half over and since he'd been having lunch with his wife, he was rarely back early. Chakotay walked straight to the captain's ready room and entered without waiting for Janeway's response to the door chime. He stopped short when a fencing sword nearly sliced through his uniform jacket.

"Sorry, Commander," Janeway said. She slid the epee into the sheath at her waist. "I was just practicing. Sassy's teaching me to fence; we're going to play musketeers on the holodeck."

Chakotay strode into the room and stopped in front of her desk. "Speaking of my wife, we just had a rather public--actually, she just got very publicly angry with me."

"You don't appear to have a broken jaw or knives protruding from your body anywhere," she observed with undisguised amusement.

"She's mad because I'm not including her on the away team tomorrow and she seems to think I am in desperate need of a botanist on this mission."

Unbuckling the scabbard, Janeway laid the fencing foil on the sofa and settled in behind her desk. She stared expectantly at her first officer and waited.

"It's a primitive, unexplored planet," Chakotay argued. "Who knows what dangers are there?"

"Here there be dragons," she quoted.

He began pacing the room. "She's a civilian, an academic..."

"An Indian who can start a fire without technological aids or my hair," she couldn't help but point out.

Spinning to face his captain, he asserted, "an alien planet is no place for a--"

"Botanist?" Janeway interrupted, the corners of her mouth twitching. She could just imagine how Sassy reacted to that attitude.

"You think I should take her down there?"

"I think that I was wrong to discuss the away mission over coffee with her and infer that she would be going," she acknowledged. "You are in command of the away teams; the composition of the away team is your choice."

"But," Chakotay prompted her to drop the other shoe.

Janeway shrugged, straightening items on her desk. "Personally, I have more faith in her analysis of plant life than Neelix's."

Muttering to himself, he turned away.

"What was that, Commander?"

He shot her a dirty look. "I said that's the same argument Sassy used."

"She was working in the jungles of Earth when she was sent here," Janeway reminded him. "No," she held her hand up to forestall his next comment. "This is between the two of you. The away team is your responsibility and so is your marriage. I've already gotten more involved in this than I should be. You deal with it."

Chakotay nodded and started to leave. "Who's your third?"

"Pardon?"

"You said that you and Sassy were going to be musketeers," he reminded her. "Weren't there three of them?"

Janeway grinned. "I asked Seven but she declined participating in such a frivolous endeavor." She pointed to her fencing foil. "As if learning how to wield a sword is frivolous."

Chakotay chuckled.

"And," she continued. "I didn't think it would be prudent to put Sassy and B'Elanna in the same room, both armed with sharp objects."

"No," he concurred quickly.

"You volunteering, Commander?" she asked with a smile. "Tights, feathered cap, cape..."

"No."

"According to scans of the planet's surface," Seven was saying, "there are no indications of humanoid existence on the surface for at least several centuries. "Life signs do not indicate animal life, but there is a pervasive energy reading that could indicate small animal life, unlikely to be of significant size."

Harry deposited the last of the dinner dishes in the replicator and activated the recycle sequence. "We covered all of that in the mission briefing this afternoon," he told her.

"I am aware of that; however, I have done additional scans since then," she informed him.

Pulling her into his arms, he began swaying gently to the music playing softly in the background. She molded her body to his easily, the flimsy fabric of his shirt not shielding the curves or warmth of her body. It was hard to believe that they'd been involved for two months and intimately involved for nearly a month. While Seven still preferred quiet evenings alone with him, they had also become a regular item at social events on Voyager. She didn't get all emotional, but the emotions she did express were genuine and deep. He felt her fingers dig into his shoulder. "Hey, are you all right?"

"I am fine," she assured him. Then she remembered that Harry wished her to be open about her feelings toward him. "I am simply concerned for your safety on tomorrow's away mission."

Twining his fingers in the blond hair flowing down around her shoulders, he tilted her face up to his. "Why?"

"It is most anomalous for a Class M planet to show no indication of humanoid existence. I have been unable to even formulate theories as to why this planet is uninhabited."

Harry lowered his head to capture her lush, full lips in a tender kiss. One hand cupped her head while his other hand skimmed down the length of her body. The catsuit fit like a second skin, he could feel her muscles tightening under his fingers. Kneading the firm flesh of her buttocks, he rocked their hips together. "I'm sure you did your best, Seven," he rasped when the kiss ended.

She caressed his face. "I do not wish to be responsible for any damage to you."

"This is a routine exploration," he reassured her. "We know more about this planet than others we've visited."

"But we were not intimate then," Seven whispered.

Harry dropped a quick kiss on the end of her nose, "I love you, Seven."

"I love you as well, Harry." She wanted to do more than say the words. She wanted to show him how she felt and feel him express his sentiments. Tugging on his shirt, she nuzzled the sensitive section of skin just below his ear while her hands slid underneath the fabric to explore the smooth expanse of his chest. He always made the same small sound--sort of a moaning sigh--when her fingers found his nipples. He would soon desire to strip off her clothing, he had become quite adept at removing her biometric outfit. She pushed his shirt up and over his head, discarding it on the floor. Initially, their clothing would be left strewn about the room and occasionally they were still left lying about; however, lately Harry had been putting them away prior to their intercourse. It was amusing to hear his frustrated groan before he tore himself away to pick up whatever item of clothing she had dropped to the floor.

Her small hands felt so good against his skin and he knew when she bared his chest that he would feel her mouth next. Reluctantly, he stepped back. If he left the clothes on the floor, he would have to pick them up later. By putting his clothes away and piling hers neatly on a chair beforehand, he could linger in bed with Seven. When he got up afterward, she would get up too and go back to the cargo bay. Since he'd been putting everything away first, she'd spent the entire night beside him and had even begun to sleep a little. She still needed to regenerate on a regular basis, but waking up with her in his arms was the absolute best way to start the day.

Seven watched him remove the rest of his clothing. The bronze hue of his skin, revealed a small amount at a time, was a most pleasing view. She wet her lips, recalling the feel of those muscles under her hands and her mouth. Her body flooded with a warm rush at the memories of the hours spent familiarizing herself with every inch of his body. The dark skin was soft to the touch yet the muscles underneath were rock-hard. His hair was thick but silky; although the other area of hair on his body was more wiry and curly.

Anticipation building, he turned to her. "You're still dressed."

Her eyebrow arched. "In circumstances where you do not remove my clothing first, you wish to watch me remove it."

"Well, it's not the best part," Harry noted, stretching out comfortably on the bed. "But it's definitely in the top two." He clasped his hands behind his head as he watched Seven undress. Cool air brushed across his skin in a tormenting caress. She moved gracefully to the foot of the bed and placed one foot on the blanket. Mentally, he applauded her ability to balance on one impossibly high heel like that and imagined her performing a sultry strip tease to music like the dancing girls back home did. She finished unfastening the boot and drew her foot up and out, her toes nearly as high as her head at one point.

Once she had removed her footwear, she turned her back to him and reached up to begin unsnapping the closure to her outfit. The difference was noticeable and quite intriguing with regard to how her clothing was removed. When Harry removed it, his hands increased her level of sensory awareness significantly which provided pleasurable sensations prior to the actual intercourse, a slow, lingering build-up. When she removed her own clothing as he observed, she became flushed and her hands began to tremble. Her body ached deep inside and continued to intensify in magnitude so that when he touched her it seemed to explode and initiate a powerful urge to copulate. Pulling the snaps open slowly, she attempted to steady her breathing. Although she was reluctant to discuss the matter with Harry, she preferred the occasions when she removed her own clothing. Once the snaps were all open, she turned to face him. His eyes were extremely dilated and his own respiration was rapid and unsteady. Drawing the material down, she exposed her breasts before removing her arms from the sleeves. She stood still waiting until Harry groaned her name and dropped his hands to grip the blanket before she slid her suit off and removed her undergarments. Folding the items neatly, she set them on a chair and strode back to the foot of the bed. Her body was consumed with an erratic pounding, the build-up to what would be a most enjoyable orgasm. She placed a knee on the bed and crawled up his body allowing her nipples to graze his skin. The sharp twinge of sensation that it caused served to intensify her arousal and it seemed to effect his as well.

He couldn't wait any longer. Grabbing handfuls of silky, blond hair, he drew her up and rolled so that she was under him. His mouth came down, his tongue delving into hers as he settled his body more comfortably onto hers. He broke the kiss and raised his head; he enjoyed watching her eyes as he joined them. Her blue eyes locked with his, getting bigger and bluer with every breath. Their bodies felt so good together, they both enjoyed the feeling of perfect union. Eventually, however, their bodies demanded more.

It was times such as this, Harry's arms around her and his mouth on hers, when she truly felt human. Most of the time it seemed as though she belonged nowhere--no longer Borg, but not really human. Safe in the warm, intimate embrace of Harry, she belonged. Her body was beginning to prepare for orgasm, muscles contracting and the ache in her body increasing exponentially. Finally, Seven relaxed under him and savored the aftereffects of their intimacy. When Harry showed no inclination to move, she tapped his shoulder. "I should return to the cargo bay. You are scheduled for the away mission at 0800."

"No," he tightened his hold on her soft, yielding body. "Please don't, I want you to spend the night here." Reversing their positions, he settled her against his chest.

"I will comply."

The garden lights were dimmed and the holographic sky projected the glow of a full moon over the garden when Chakotay entered. Sassy's message had said that she was working late and would meditate in the garden afterwards; but now it was getting late and they hadn't spoken since that scene at lunch. He found her sitting cross-legged on the rock slabs surrounding the holographic waterfall, apparently deep in meditation. She looked so serene, so beautiful, even in her utilitarian jumpsuit with her long, black hair pulled back in a single braid. Her graceful, slender fingers were idly caressing her bracelet. "Sassy?" he said gingerly.

"Yes," she replied without opening her eyes.

He sat down beside her, reaching out to toy with her braid. "It's getting late; are you almost finished?"

"No."

"Am I interrupting a vision quest?" he asked quickly. Sassy didn't use the akoonah, so it wasn't always easy to tell. Her ancestors had adopted Japanese traditions into their ways and used Zen meditative techniques to communicate with their spirit guides.

"No, I finished that a little while ago," she replied.

Chakotay sat quietly for several moments, watching the holographic water fall down to play at the foot of the projected cliff. "Can we go home now?"

Sassy sighed and opened her eyes to look at him. "I'm finished with my work for the day and I'm finished speaking with my spirit guide. What I'm not finished with yet is being angry with you."

"Mi aalm," he began.

"No," she cut him off. "Nothing will change how much I love you. I just need to be mad for a while longer before I yield to your decision."

Chakotay brought up the compromise that he'd suggested at the briefing earlier. Apparently he was the only one on the ship who didn't think that Sassy should be part of the away team. "After we've done an initial survey of the planet, we'll bring down science personnel--including you."

Sassy tried to explain her feelings. "This isn't about whether or not I go down to that planet. I understand that your refusal to include me on this, or any, away team comes from your love for me and your desire to protect me. I love you for that. It's just that my skills as a botanist and herbalist are all I have to offer here on Voyager and my own husband doesn't respect those abilities enough--"

"That's not true," he insisted.

"If I were a member of this crew, Starfleet or Maquis, you wouldn't hesitate to include me on away missions where a botanist could be useful," she countered. "I know that my gender isn't an issue to you; I was angry and said things before that were unfair."

"But colorful."

Sharing a tender smile with her husband, she continued. "I know that you treat everyone the same, regardless of their gender. Look at B'Elanna, she's frequently part of away teams and you rely on her engineering knowledge a great deal. You've accepted Kathryn's authority, serving under her for nearly six years now. So, the difference must be in your feelings for me; specifically in the amount of respect you have for my knowledge, skills and abilities." She reached for his hand, stroking her thumb across the mark of their wedding rings in his palm. "I don't doubt that you love me, Chakotay; but right now I don't feel that you respect me and that hurts."

"You're right," he sighed then immediately realized what he'd insinuated. "I mean you're wrong--no, you're . . . " he broke off, raking his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Let me try that again. I love you and just looking around at this beautiful garden and remembering the sparse hydroponics bay that used to be here, I am in awe of your botanical expertise. My reluctance to take you on the away team came from the memory of how it felt when I thought I'd lost you on Techora." He cupped her face in both of his hands. "I go through my days happier than I've ever thought possible just knowing that you're here in the garden and that I'll be coming home to you when my duty shift is over. Part of me just wants to lock that garden door and put a level ten forcefield around this room to keep you safe."

Sassy nuzzled the large, warm palms holding her. "A bird in a cage will forget how to sing," she whispered.

"I know."

Placing a kiss on each strong, brown palm, she uncrossed her legs. "I think I'm finished now. Let's go home."

Torn between duty and desire, Chakotay pulled her against him, his lips claiming her in a searing kiss. "Promise me that nothing will happen to you," he begged against the full, yielding lips.

She pressed her body closer to his, her fingers entwined in his thick, dark hair. "I promise," she whispered back.

Breaking the kiss, he searched her eyes. "How can you make that promise?"

"The same way you can ask me to make you that promise," she said fingers playing with the short hair at the nape of his neck.

He buried his face against her throat, kissing the soft flesh as his hands found the tie for her braid and combed through the long, black hair until it cascaded around her like a silken waterfall. Mindless of where they were, he needed to feel the warmth of her beautiful, tawny skin against his body. He reached down to swiftly pull off her boots, discarding them in the middle of the holographic pool. Her jumpsuit fell open easily under his hands revealing the simple, white brassiere, stark against her honey-toned skin. He shoved the jumpsuit down and tossed it away, leaving her clad in only her bra and underwear. She never tried to be overtly sexy but she was so naturally sensuous that it didn't matter what she wore.

Sassy moaned, arching into the hands running feverishly over her body. Their sassy and contrary natures made it surprising that they didn't clash more often. She gasped when the last scraps of her clothing were stripped away heatedly. Her hands pulled weakly at his uniform, gripping the material more than trying to remove it as his fingers stroked her. Suddenly he was gone and she opened her eyes to protest. Chakotay was standing over her, stripping off his uniform. Surrounded by the plants and trees of the garden, his tanned skin bathed in moonlight, he was the most incredible vision that she had ever seen. She was reminded of their honeymoon on Voyager's holodeck after their Starfleet wedding. They hadn't worn clothing much that week--they hadn't needed clothing. Shadows and soft, glowing light danced across the muscular lines of his body, the broad expanse of his chest tapering down to his waist.

Kneeling back down over her, his mouth sought hers, crushing her lips beneath his in a demanding kiss. Her arms and legs pulled at him, drawing his body to hers. They fit together, their bodies and souls always a perfect harmony; it had left an emptiness in his heart when they argued earlier and he needed to feel complete with her again.

Need dominated her every sense. The feel of his body on hers with the cold rock against her back. His skin tasted of salt, perspiration beading on them both to trickle down and intermingle. Brown eyes, almost luminescent under the lights, held her gaze with the sounds of their bodies moving together wafting through the room. The sweet essence of flowers provided an olfactory feast of nature. An uncontrollable spasm tore through the length of her body, a strong release ripping a cry of satisfaction from her throat.

Chakotay let the contractions rippling through her body bring him to orgasm, calling out her name. The hiss of the door startled him, snapping his attention to the door. Nobody was in the room, whoever it was must have beaten a hasty retreat when they realized that they were interrupting something. "Damn," Chakotay swore softly, reaching for his clothes.

Sassy giggled and sat up. She watched her husband struggling to get dressed, in no hurry for her own clothing since no one was there. "They're gone now; that's a little like closing the barn door after the horse is gone."

"Who was that?" he ignored her wry comment. "Did you see?"

Shrugging, she replied. "I don't know and I don't really want to know. Do you truly want to know who just witnessed their First Officer's bare ass--adorable though it is--waving to the world?"

He closed his eyes at that mental image. "Probably not. Besides, I need to get you briefed if you're going to be on my away team in the morning."

"Are you sure?" her question was soft, tentative. She stood, reaching out to fasten the top buttons of his uniform jacket.

"Yes, you and everyone else on this ship were right and I was wrong. You are the ship's sole botanist and we could use that knowledge on the away team tomorrow."

Sassy traced the lines of his tattoo. "Thank you." Her lips covered his in a long, tender kiss. When they finally separated, she looked down at her still-nude body. "I guess you'll have to rebrief me from your earlier debriefing of me so that I can be properly briefed."

Chuckling, he dropped a kiss on the end of her nose. "You are--"

"Sassy," she waggled her eyebrows up and down irrepressibly. "Yep."

Entering the transporter room the next morning, Harry, Tom and Neelix were already there. "There's been a slight change of plans," Chakotay told them. "Sassy's coming along after all."

"Wonderful," Neelix gushed. "Will you still be needing me then, Commander?"

Sassy stepped in quickly. "Of course, I'm just along to provide botanical expertise."

Chakotay motioned toward the transporter pad, "let's get going."

"Just one thing, sir," Crewman Henley said. "The vegetation is extremely dense and there's a low level of interference. I might be able to beam you through it--"

"But we could end up in the middle of a bog or something," Harry finished nervously. "Maybe I should take a look at those readings before we beam down."

Henley stepped aside to let Kim view the display. "I've located some clearings where the trees thin out enough to get a clear lock," he informed Chakotay. "If you get in trouble, I can try to use Lieutenant Torres' skeletal lock to pull you out, but a clearing will provide an easier transport."

"Understood," Chakotay acknowledged. He stepped onto the transporter pad beside Sassy; this was it, he was taking her down into an unknown environment where they might not be able to beam her back quickly. His hand brushed the phaser he wore, reassuring himself that he had the means to protect her if need be. He would feel better if she had a phaser also, but he couldn't ask her to violate her beliefs just to make him feel better. She was every inch an Inihasa, something she had never compromised and, in fact, trusted a great deal to in deciding to come to Voyager. Checking to see that the other members of the team were armed and in their places on the transporter pad, he exhaled slowly. "Energize."

Five forms materialized on the surface and simultaneously reached for their tricorders. Chakotay resisted the urge to draw his phaser, settling instead on a quick 360 degree scan with his tricorder. "No life signs," he announced.

"No life signs?" Sassy echoed incredulously. "Just look around, there's life everywhere." It reminded her of the rainforest back on Earth. Lush, green vegetation, a cornucopia of trees, flowers and plant life everywhere she looked. She immediately began scanning, activating a personal recorder to take notes of the surroundings. "Soil has a very low pH, but I don't think it's acidic enough to eat through the soles of our shoes."

"Acid?" Neelix gulped, quickly looking at the bottom of his feet.

Tom checked the pH reading of the soil on his tricorder. "She's right, it's not going to eat through inorganic material. It might burn organic material, though, so try not to fall down or anything."

Harry gave a barely subdued shiver. "Gee, thanks for the advice."

"Is anything growing here going to be edible with that kind of soil?" Chakotay asked.

Sassy shrugged. "Hard to make that kind of generalization. If I'm reading this right, there should be birds of some sort around here which might mean edible fruit. The readings from the soil show copious amounts of uric acid."

"Why does that mean birds?" Neelix asked.

Harry pulled an arcane bit of knowledge from an academy biology class out of his memory. "There's a lot of uric acid in bird waste but none in mammals."

"Right," Sassy confirmed. "Sensors couldn't detect any large mammals and it would take a whole lot of birds to turn the soil this acidic, but I don't know how else this much uric acid would get into the soil otherwise."

Chakotay scanned the tree line nervously, visions of a flock of birds large enough to black out the sky coming at them in waves flashed before his eyes. "Stay sharp. Harry, you, Tom and Neelix go fifty meters that way," he pointed east. "Sassy and I will take this direction. Stay in touch."

"And don't touch anything," Sassy added. "Preliminary scans show a high percentage of potentially toxic plants."

The group split up, each moving in their assigned directions. Sassy took the lead, scanning all of the plant life for hazards before moving through. She stopped frequently to take samples of various plants and flowers for analysis. When one plant in particular actually bent toward her, she jumped back.

Chakotay had been scanning the tree canopy overhead for animals when Sassy backed into him. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine," she murmured absently, intrigued by her tricorder readings. She reached for her communicator, "Sassy to Harry."

"Go ahead," Harry's voice instantly came back through the communicator.

"Do you see plants that look like a bulb on a thick stem with leaves?"

"Yes, do you want me to pick you one?" he asked.

"No," Sassy said sharply. "In fact, I want you to stay at least ten centimeters away from the plant. It can reach around itself for the length of the stem and it appears to be a carnivorous variety. One very nearly bit me."

"Understood," came Harry's reply.

Chakotay took a closer look at the plant in question. "Is it poisonous?"

Sassy frowned at her tricorder readings. "I don't know. These readings are confusing; on the one hand, it has a complex root system, capitulum form, more likely asexual reproduction through the use of runners."

"Asexual as opposed to?" he asked curiously.

"Sexual," she replied succinctly. "Many varieties of plants require sexual reproduction to propagate."

Chakotay chuckled. "Gives a whole new meaning to the birds and bees thing."

"There's a lot more to botanical sex than what we did in the garden last night," she grinned and shot him a suggestive wink. "Orchids in nature, for example, are known to seduce male bees into pseudocopulation in order to achieve pollination. Sexual reproduction simply means that the plant needs something from another plant in order to reproduce. Pollen grains are sort of like sperm to a flower, add them to the stigma and seeds begin to form in the ovary."

Chakotay watched her working, completely in her element. "If I'd known botany was that interesting, I might have taken a few more classes in it at the academy."

Sassy began recording her observations on her personal recorder. "These carnivorous plants appear to be a cross between the plant kingdom and animal kingdom. It displays a musculature reminiscent of Dionaea muscipula or Utricularia vulgaris, but with both more control and more advanced sensory awareness of its surroundings. It moved toward me even though I was not in physical contact with any portion of the plant."

"Did you just say that these things are animals?" he asked.

"I said I didn't know if they were plants or animals," she clarified. "Active carnivorous plants like the Venus flytrap or bladderwort show rapid movement in capturing their prey, usually small insects and such who land on the flower. These plants showed rapid movement as well as awareness and control in that I wasn't touching the plant to stimulate the response. "

"Paris to Chakotay," Tom's voice broke into the conversation.

"Go ahead, Tom," Chakotay replied.

"We've found something, a structure of some sort. Definitely artificial, but it's overflowing with those plant things that Sassy told us to stay clear of," Tom reported.

Chakotay checked for their location on his tricorder. "Acknowledged, we're on our way."

Sassy shifted her sample bag to her other shoulder and followed him back in the direction they had come from. Something was wrong; she could feel an imbalance around her, she just couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. Continuously scanning as they walked, she studied the readings. Several times they had to quickly step out of the way when the animal-plants snapped at them. "Oh look," she pointed, "teeth, enamel teeth."

"Fascinating," Chakotay mumbled, carefully picking his way through a batch of them.

At the structure, Tom edged closer in an effort to peer inside the window. Harry and Neelix waited well back from the mass of carnivore plants. "It looks like it might have been used for research," he said.

"Tom, be careful," Harry warned. In the next instant, he was moving toward Tom who was yelling and stumbling backward. "What happened?"

Tom looked down at his foot, wide-eyed with surprise. The toe of his boot was gone and judging by the blood gushing from the opening, so were his toes.

"Oh my goodness," Neelix gasped.

All around them, the carnivore plants were going wild, waving madly and shooting fluid through the air. Harry hit his communicator. "Kim to Voyager, initiate emergency transport. Three to beam up this location."

Janeway's voice came back through. "Harry, what's wrong?"

Taking aim with his phaser, Harry stunned a nearby plant and sidestepped the liquid arcing out of the bulb. "We're under attack, sort of; they're trying to slime us."

"There's a lot of interference," Henley's voice cut in. "Attempting skeletal lock transport, protocol Torres 1. Standby."

Neelix watched a spray of liquid flying toward him just as the transporter beam engulfed the trio.

Aboard Voyager, Tom pulled out his tricorder, scanning Harry and Neelix to check for injuries and seeming not to even be aware of his own. Satisfied that nobody else was injured, he started to step off the transporter pad and slumped to the floor, unconscious.

Harry knelt beside Tom and hit his communicator. "Doc, incoming wounded. Tom got bit by something down on the planet." He nodded to Henley who transported Tom to Sickbay.

Down on the planet's surface, Chakotay and Sassy had been making their way toward the structure that the others had located when the plants went wild. "Watch it," Sassy warned. "They're spitting poison, highly acidic and highly concentrated."

Chakotay's commbadge chirped. "Chakotay here."

"Prepare for emergency beam-out," Janeway informed him. "The others came under attack; Tom's in Sickbay."

Janeway settled into her chair and surveyed the table. There were the usual people in their customary seats with the exception of Ceshlyta in place of the unconscious Tom Paris. "Doctor, how is Mr. Paris?"

"I had to place him in stasis," the EMH reported. "He lost half of his big toe and part of several others. The biggest problem is some sort of venom that's spreading through his body."

Janeway looked over at Sassy. "What are we dealing with?"

Pulling up an image of the carnivore plant, Sassy began her report. "From a preliminary analysis of the tricorder readings, I'd guess that this is a genetically engineered animal-plant hybrid." She switched the view to a schematic of the plant's structure. "It actually has a more advanced physiology than any invertebrate in the animal kingdom; although it's not as complex as vertebrates. There's no skeletal system, but there is an advanced muscular system and a sensory system that reaches beyond its surface. If you look here, it appears to have a respiratory system--plants do take in oxygen--or respirate--they just don't normally use rudimentary lungs to do so. These plants are the source of the uric acid in the soil, they have an excretory system that processes both liquid and solid waste. There's also a much more advanced circulatory system than expected for plant life."

Neelix interrupted with a question. "Plants have circulation?"

"Phloem or xylem are networks that carry food or water from one part of the plant to another--sort of a plant circulatory system. These plants have a circulatory system with a pulsing organ near the middle of the stem that is pushing fluid that is not water through the plant structure."

"Can we communicate with it?" Chakotay asked.

Sassy shook her head. "Unlikely; the nervous system is connected to a mass of cells that is sending out minor electrical impulses comparable to a brain stem of sorts. There's no indication of sentience, at least not on any scale that would allow more than instinctive behavior. Those electrical impulses multiplied by a factor of ten when Tom was bitten and a chemical was released through the plant's structure--an endocrine response possibly. The fact that they have roots, reproduce asexually and engage in photosynthesis make them plants in a technical sense of the word even though the internal organs and other attributes are more animal-like in nature."

"Reptilian to be precise," the EMH provided. "I analyzed the poison in Mr. Paris' blood. It bears many similarities to snake venom with a much higher pH."

Tuvok wanted something clarified. "You stated that these plants were genetically engineered. Please elaborate."

"I wasn't entirely sure at first," Sassy began. "But nature is a balance and these plants do not require outside elements to reproduce themselves, have what I'm guessing is a reasonably long life span and they do not appear to have any natural predators to keep their growth in check. In fact, there are no animals of any kind--not even insects--on the planet surface. I'd need the doctor to review these readings but if I'm right, these plants are suffering from malnutrition--they're starving to death, slowly since their photosynthesis provides a buffer against the lack of food. They were probably created to guard or to deal with pests of some sort and their creators lost control. At least that's my best guess based on what I've seen."

B'Elanna snorted. "So they just packed up and ran."

"Or, and more likely, were killed and eaten along with all other life on the planet," Sassy countered. "They appear to be strictly carnivorous which is why the other plant life on the surface is so abundant."

Janeway got back to the present dilemma. "What about Tom?"

"I need one of these plants to study so I can develop an antivenin," the EMH said.

Sassy looked across the table at the EMH. "Can't you do that with just a sample of the venom?"

"I'd like a chance to study this plant more closely beyond the venom," he replied. "We could beam one up and put it back when we're done with it."

Sassy regarded Chakotay carefully. "I'd advise against that. I don't have the facilities to handle hazardous plant life aboard Voyager. Besides, the entire reason I didn't take any samples of that plant was because I couldn't say with any certainty whether it was a plant or an animal. The root system appears to be interconnected and, based on the behavior on these 'piranha' plants near Chakotay and me when the others were attacked, I'm guessing that the roots serve as a communication system of some type. I'm not going to dismember an animal just for the sake of curiosity. I'm fascinated by it, too. I just think that the risks and the ethical considerations are too great to justify any information we may get."

"So just what do you suggest we do?" B'Elanna snarled at her. "Let Tom die?"

"Of course not," Janeway said.

Sassy appealed to the captain. "This may be an abomination that nature never intended, but it is alive in some sense."

Chakotay spoke up. "What if we go back and get a sample of the poison?"

"That would be enough for me to help Tom," the EMH conceded. "I could beam down, the plants couldn't harm me."

"They were spitting," Harry warned.

"Acid," Chakotay added. "What if some of that acid hit your mobile emitter?" He couldn't believe what he was about to suggest. "Sassy and I will go."

Everyone, including Sassy, gaped at him in stunned silence.

"But, Commander," the EMH argued. "This is an animal, a doctor would be a better choice for the job."

"It's also a plant," Chakotay countered.

Janeway made her decision. "Botanist trumps doctor on this one. Chakotay and Sassy will return to the surface and take just what we need without harming it unless absolutely necessary. A botanist would have a better chance of success."

"Harry," Chakotay said. "You shot at them with your phaser. What happened?"

"They sort of dropped over, drooping," he described. "Phasers were set on low stun."

Chakotay nodded, meeting Sassy's gaze. This was it, how much did he trust her skills and abilities? "If I stun one of these plants, can you extract what we need without harming it?"

"Who cares!" B'Elanna exclaimed. "It's killing Tom; just kill one and cut it open."

Janeway started to respond, paused and tried again. "I realize that you're worried about Tom and when you were being used as a host to that alien parasite, Tom was willing to go to any lengths to save you. We were fortunate that a decision between your life and the alien's life wasn't ultimately necessary. In this case, artificially-created or not, these plants are alive in some weird sense. If we can get what we need without further conflict, then that's what we'll do."

"The venom sac should be near the teeth," Sassy said. "Once Chakotay's stunned it, it shouldn't take me long to get a sample of the fluid from the sac. How are we going to deal with the others spitting acid at us?"

"Tough it out," B'Elanna suggested sarcastically.

"Encounter suits," Harry suggested. "They should protect you long enough to get what you need."

"What you need is my sister the zoologist," Sassy was muttering to herself a short time later. 'Be careful what you wish for,' the old adage was annoyingly true. She had wanted Chakotay to respect her as much as he loved her. Now she found herself being helped into an encounter suit so she could beam down to handle an acid-spitting plant without harming it.

"Ready?" Chakotay asked, ensconced in his own suit.

Sassy took a deep, steadying breath and nodded. "Let's go," she said as she grabbed the special container for the highly acidic venom. B'Elanna was handling the transporter herself, not something that gave Sassy much comfort. Being ripped apart molecule by molecule wasn't a comforting concept under the best of circumstances; given who was doing the dismantling, it was even more unsettling. Looking at the container in her hand, she reminded herself that B'Elanna loved Tom and the material she would be carrying was essential to Tom's survival. She tried not to think about the fact that B'Elanna could just pluck the canister out of her hands with the transporter if she wanted to.

It was quiet when they materialized on the surface. Chakotay located one of the plants nearby and pointed his phaser at it.

"Wait," Sassy yelled, her voice muffled by the suit.

Reaching over, he showed her where the intercom button was so they could talk. "What?"

"That's a baby, Tom was bitten near the apparent source of creation which would mean an older plant." She started off toward the trees in search of an appropriate specimen. "They must have a sense of smell," she noted. "They're aware we're here, but they don't appear to see us as food."

"Good," Chakotay murmured, his phaser at the ready.

Sassy pointed at a plant near the edge of the tree line. "Here's an adult."

The plants reacted when he fired, frantic movement as if they were craning to see the source of the danger. He watched Sassy kneel beside the plant and begin carefully prodding it's 'mouth.' She had replicated special rubber gloves used for handling poisonous snakes to use for this mission.

"I kind of hate to cause trouble by bringing this up," Sassy said as she worked. "Oh--can they hear us on Voyager?"

"No," he replied. "What's wrong?"

Carefully milking the plant so that the venom dripped into the container, she searched for the right words. "I'm not all that experienced with beaming so . . . well . . . couldn't Harry or anyone else have handled the transporter for this?"

"B'Elanna will do fine. Has she given you any trouble since Techora?" Chakotay moved closer, trying to shield her while she worked. A couple of the plants were sending experimental streams of venom through the air, trying to find them.

"No," Sassy replied. "It's just the idea of trusting my life to someone who very nearly ended it is a bit much. The fact that you thought of me first for this job was wonderful. I would just prefer that the person dismembering my molecules is someone I'm confident is planning to reassemble my molecules."

Chakotay sighed, those two would probably never get along well. "We need to trust one another out here. B'Elanna's our Chief Engineer, if anything goes wrong she can get us out faster than anyone."

"Got it," she announced, shrugging off his prior comment. "You know, since they don't seem to be able to sense us through these suits, maybe we could check out that research facility that the others found."

"No," he stated firmly. He activated his communicator. "Chakotay to Voyager, we've got it. Ready to beam back up."

Harry picked at the food on his tray, resisting the urge to call Sickbay for an update on Tom. The Doctor had his hands full with B'Elanna hovering in Sickbay while he worked on the antivenin. A soft touch on his hand brought him out of his contemplation.

"You are not eating," Seven observed from her seat across the table.

Flipping his hand over, he held the long, slender fingers and gently traced along the metallic lines of her Borg components. "I'm just worried about Tom."

"The Doctor will not be able to concentrate on treating Tom if you are transported to Sickbay due to insufficient blood glucose, electrolytes--"

"I get your point," Harry chuckled. He took a bite of his dinner. "See?"

Seven studied the dark, handsome man listlessly eating dinner on the other side of the table. She had tapped into the away team's communications on the surface earlier. Frustrated at being in Astrometrics, unable to do anything to assist Harry, she had felt an overwhelming fear at his call for an emergency transport. Tears had actually been released from her eyes at the sound of phaser fire in the background. She knew that feeling relieved upon learning that Tom was the injured member of the team was inappropriate, but it was preferable to the feeling she experienced when she thought it was Harry.

"Penny for your thoughts," he said, noticing her intense stare.

Confused, she started to ask for clarification before recognizing the colloquialism. It occurred to her that he had changed over the past two months; before, he would have inquired if there was something embarrassing about his appearance. He had more confidence now, a trait that was most appealing. Suddenly she desired to be alone with him. "I was concerned for your well-being on the surface."

Harry raised her hand to his mouth and kissed the tip of each finger. "I'm fine; you gave the rest of the away team, including me, a clean bill of health yourself while the Doc was working on Tom, remember?"

"I do recall the performance of my duties," Seven remarked. "I was merely contemplating the wisdom of examining you more thoroughly in private to ensure that your skin is indeed unmarred."

Catching the sexual innuendo, he started to push his tray away.

"After you have had sufficient sustenance," she finished pointedly.

Harry stabbed into the food on his plate and brought up a large forkful. He grinned and shot her a suggestive wink. "I will comply."

Sassy exhaled slowly and stretched. She had just completed her report on both trips to the surface and the samples that she'd collected on the initial survey were catalogued and safely in stasis. Tom was recovering with a little input from her, she grinned to herself. The Doctor had created an antivenin and requested a couple of the herbs from the garden for the serum feeling that they would be more potent than a synthesized version. He was becoming quite the herbalist since their fight over her medicinal herbs. He had even added some herbs from some of the planets they'd been to so that he could study their effects on various humanoid races and entrusted her to tend to 'his' plants. At any rate, it was now the end of a very long day.

She was expecting the quarters to be dark when she entered, so she was surprised to find a light still on. She was even more surprised when large, strong arms encircled her and swept her off her feet. Her mouth eagerly met the firm lips that covered hers, welcoming the questing tongue that slipped in to play with hers. Resting her hands on broad shoulders as she was carried into the bedroom, she kicked off her boots. No matter what else was going on, alien threats to the ship, imminent warp core failures or other assorted disasters, being with Chakotay made her life aboard Voyager worth everything she had given up to come here. She was gently set on her feet next to the bed and she closed her eyes to savor the feeling of his fingers nimbly unfastening her braid to comb through her hair. She couldn't imagine going through her entire life back in the Alpha Quadrant never meeting her soulmate or knowing this sense of wholeness. He wasn't wearing his jacket, so she had only to tug on his shirt and pull it up over his head to bare the smooth, bronze expanse of his chest. Her hands caressed the warm skin, following with her lips.

Twice he had taken her into danger today and twice she had returned safely. He'd been waiting for her, anxious to feel her body under his. His hands gripped fistfuls of her silken, black tresses and pulled her closer to him. Tonight was for them, for the pleasure that their bodies felt together and the completeness that came when their hearts were beating as one. He rocked his hips against hers, his hands gliding down to slip her jumpsuit off her shoulders without letting her mouth lose contact with him. Caressing the tawny skin, he quickly dispensed with her bra. He encircled her trim waist and carried her with him onto the bed, pressing her body into the softness of the bedding. Settling himself between the soft, tanned thighs, his hands trailed along her arms to find and clasp her small hands in his larger ones. He slid their entwined hands out to the side as his mouth covered hers in a kiss of desperate desire. Her breasts were crushed against the wall of his chest and he could feel their hearts beating in unison even as their bodies moved together. He resisted the urge to speed up, reveling in the knowledge that they still had a lifetime together. A slow spiral of sensation began building deep within his body but he continued the slow pace, allowing their pleasure to rise gradually. He broke the kiss, lifting his head slightly to watch her face reflecting her own arousal. Her eyes were open, almost black with desire and gazing at him with more love and passion than he'd ever thought possible. He felt her pleasure burgeoning, her body beginning to shudder uncontrollably and still he kept his pace slow and easy. Her fingernails bit into the back of his hands, grasping at him desperately, her body caught just short of ecstasy.

"Aalm," Sassy cried much later when an overwhelming orgasm finally exploded and crashed through her. Her body was still trembling in the aftermath as thrust into her one last time, his release a pleasant warmth deep inside her body. She lay cocooned in the warm haven of his arms and relaxed into the tremors racing through her. "Well, that's certainly an enjoyable way to be met at the door at the end of a long day."

Chakotay nuzzled the soft skin along the side of her throat, his hands still holding hers. "I was watching some vids while I waited for you to finish your work and they had an interesting effect."

"Should I ask what the vids were?"

"Just some educational vids on botany," he said, his lips brushing hers tenderly. "Reproduction in the plant kingdom."

Sassy kissed his nose. "Botany turns you on?"

"What man wouldn't get turned on by watching dirty sex?"

FINIS


End file.
